Dive Brief:

• The first of three public hearings on replacing the Common Core State Standards in Missouri took place Monday as members of the eight work groups responsible for suggesting new standards testified before the state Board of Education.
• The eight groups include education professionals, parents, and business leaders and are split into K-5 groups and 6-12 groups for math, science, social studies, and English.
• Of the 13 who testified before the state board, seven were members of the work groups.

Dive Insight:

As with other states that saw Common Core backlash, critics of the standards in Missouri saw them as overstepping local schools control. Some Missourians, including members of the work groups, are also wary of the Common Core standards simply being rewritten and repackaged as Missouri's own, as revised standards in states like Indiana have been seen largely in that manner. 

"I beg you, consider the non-Common Core standards and I beg you to reconsider rigorous testing that is destroying education across Missouri," parent and K-5 English Language Arts work group member Jessica Boyster said to the board, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The groups' recommendations have an Oct. 1, 2015, deadline, after which the board will vote on adoption for the 2016-17 school year.